The Adventure Begins
Moonpaw.png Daisypaw.png Cinderpaw.png Dustpaw.png Firepaw.png Hollypaw .png The adventure begins for Hollypaw, Firepaw, Dustpaw, Cinderpaw, Daisypaw, and Moonpaw. Prolouge Hollypaw was drowning. The current in the river was stronger than it had ever been, and whenever she dug her big black paws into the pebbly floor, they were tugged out again. Hollypaw knew exactly what lay ahead if she didn't escape in time: she would be thrown over the edge of the waterfall and die in the rocky pool at the bottom. Suddenly, a flash of yellow caught her eyes. "Mother!" She cried, spluttering when water rushed into her open jaws. "Sunflame, help me!" Her yellow-ginger mother only snickered and bounded downstream. Confused and terrified, Hollypaw howled as the stones underpaw disappeared, and open water replaced them. The surface began bubbling, which meant she was nearing the waterfall. Forgetting her mother, Hollypaw churned her paws, praying to StarClan that they would save her. Making no progress, she saw her mother sitting on a boulder beside the fall. She wailed with surprise. Sunflame's eyes were on fire, the orange-red flames licking up the black dot in the center. The fading sunlight dappled her tabby pelt, making her look like one big flame. When she saw Hollypaw about to plunge over the edge of the waterfall, she turned her muzzle to the sky and yowled with glee. "Sunflame, mother, help me! I'm going to drown!" No sooner had she spoken the words that she was tossed over the edge of the waterfall, and, legs flailing, plunged to her death. Chapter One A paw prodded Hollypaw's side. "Hollypaw! Great StarClan, be quiet, before you scare off all the prey from here to the hills!" It was Dustpaw. "Wha...?" She growled, blinking her eyes open. The mottled gray Dustpaw was looming over her, an aggitated smirk on his face. "About time! I thought you might have gone into hibernation." He padded back to where his sister, Cinderpaw and his nests were, and spiraled back down into his. Hollypaw snorted and rolled over to face her brother, Firepaw. She pressed all four paws against his back and shoved back, stretching out her legs. "Ooof!" Firepaw grumbled, springing to his paws. "That hurt, Hollypaw!" He whined, twisting to lick the ruffled fur along his spine. He glanced up at her. "Sounded like a badger was attacking you, you made so much racket." She sighed. "I had an awful dream. I was in the Grand River, and the current was too strong to swim. Mother was there, but she didn't help me. And I went over the edge of the waterfall." Her brothers mottled ginger head snapped up. "I had the same dream!" He hissed, his ungroomed fur forgotten. She gaped at him. It can't be a coincidence! It's a sign from StarClan! ''Cinderpaw yawned and sat up. "You dreamed of the river too? So did I. But I wasn't drowning. I was trying to save a kit that was drowning. I couldn't even see him, but I could hear him wailing for help." Dustpaw sat up so fast he was a gray blurr. His dusty green eyes were wide. "That's the dream I had!" He yowled. He bounced to his paws, his gray fur spiking. "What does it mean? Does it mean that me and Cinderpaw will try to save a kit and fail, but Firepaw and Hollypaw will drown in the Grand River?" Slowly, he raised his head to look at Hollypaw and her brother. "What if you two were the kits we were trying to save?" There was a rustling noise, and Daisypaw sat up from where she made her nest in the corner. "I dreamed of the Grand River," She mewed quietly. "I could hear some cats howling 'Hang on, I'll save you! Keep swimming! Paddle your paws!'. Then I heard them wail, when the cat must've gone over the waterfall. But I got to the edge of the river, and no cats were there." Hollypaw gasped. "What if that had been Cinderpaw and Dustpaw, trying to save me and Firepaw?" Daisypaw only blinked. "We should see if Moonpaw dreamed of the river. If he shared one of our three dreams, it's a sign." She heaved herself out of her nest and bloted out of the den, almost ramming into the silver-striped Moonpaw. "Watch it!" He snarled as he dropped the moss he'd been carrying. "Moonpaw! What did you dream of last night?" He glared at her in confusion and he gathered up his moss, but left it lying on the ground. "I dreamed of some cats yowling around the river. Telling another cat to swim. There was a wail, I got to the edge, but there wasn't anyone there. Why?" Chapter Two "You have to meet me and the others in the old training clearing!" Moonpaw flattened his ears in surprise at the urgency in the white cats' mew. "What do you mean?" He snarled, kicking the moss towards the nursery. "Who's 'the others' and why do we have to talk? It's just a dream!" He turned away from her, but she leaped in front of him again. He hissed in frustration as she trampeled the moss. "Hey!" "We have to talk because we all had the same dreams. Well, the same concept. You and Daisypaw had the same, me and Firepaw, Cinderpaw and Dustpaw." He shook his head and bent to gather the soiled moss, preparing to toss it out of camp when Hollypaw intercepted him again. "Hollypaw! For the love of StarClan, get out of my way!" He shoved past her, and she reluctantly let him past. "Just show up, all right?" She called after him, but he gave no sigh he'd heard. Instead, he dropped the moss Hollypaw had stepped on outside the nursery before stepping inside. "Moonpaw!" Moonpaw was greeted by his little sisters, the little tabby Skykit, and the dark ginger Flamekit. He gave a fake yelp as the bowled him over, leaping on top of him and kneading his belly with tiny kit-paws. "We wanna play!" Flamekit bellowed, sitting up and swatting at Skykit's fluffy tail. Skykit jerked it away from her white paws and tucked it neatly over her paws. She looked up at Moonpaw with big green eyes "Please, Moonpaw? Will you play with us?" He sighed and shook his head. "Sorry, kits. I just wanted to speak with Berrywhisker. Where is she?" "Here!" Moonpaw turned to see a light gray tabby slip in, a mouse in her jaws. "Here," She repeated, dropping the mouse beside Skykit and Flamekit. "Play with that for a while." She turned to her eldest son. "What'd ya need, Moonpaw?" He purred with amusement and flicked her shoulder. "Nothing, I guess. I just though I'd tell you I ruined the moss I was using for your nests, and I won't be able to get more right away, since, aparrently, I need to go see Hollypaw in the old apprentices clearing." Berrywhisker blinked and gently shoved Skykit away from her tail, wincing as the kits paws pummeled the tip anyways. "Why do you need to go there?" She grunted as her kits clambered onto her flank. "It's callled the old clearing for a reason." Moonpaw sighed and toyed with a straying piece of long grass. "I've no clue. Something about a dream she had." He shrugged and yelped dramatically as his sisters bowled him over, yowling and kneading his striped flank with tiny paws. He sat up and they tumbled to the side; he gave them each a lick on the ear and stood. "I'd better get going; Hollypaw is small, but sure-pawed. She'd claw my ears off if I showed up late." Moonpaw nodded to his mother, mewed good-bye to his sisters, and ducked out of the nursery. He padded over to the fresh-kill pile and plucked a mouse off the top. He crawled to a shady spot to eat; Hollypaw could deal with the few minutes it would take him to eat. Once he was done, he gave his face a thourough grooming and lazed out of camp, paws dragging. It was nearly sunhigh when he made it to the overgrown clearing, the small river winding around it. "What took you so long?" Hollypaw's snarl was enraged; he heard it before he even saw her. She was standing in front of him suddenly, white fur bristling, lips drawn back to show sharp, white teeth. Moonpaw gulped hard. "I went to see my sisters and I ate. I didn't know that was against the warrior code." He rolled his eyes and flopped beside Firepaw, hearing Dustpaw snort agreement. ''More coming soon!